All posts tagged Spartacus

The “Spartacus: War of the Damned” finale begins with a tribute to the most famous line from Stanley Kubrick’s 1960 film “Spartacus.”

We see Gannicus laying waste to Romans and their real estate. “I am Spartacus!” he bellows. Cut to a montage of other members of Spartacus’s army making the same declaration, including Spartacus himself. The point is to confuse the Romans about the rebel leader’s true whereabouts.

(In the movie version, Spartacus’s captured comrades shout out “I am Spartacus” in solidarity, to shield their leader from taking individual blame; this compels the Romans to crucify them all together.)

Crassus, in conference with Caesar, figures that there is strategy at work. Crassus, conscious that Pompey wants to steal his glory, looks to engage Spartacus at the earliest opportunity.

Spartacus and Gannicus plan to fight the Romans in order to give the others a chance to escape. Agron wants to join them in the final stand, but he can’t grip a sword.

Nasir, helpfully, fashions a half-sword/half-shield weapon that will allow him to fight. This boyfriend’s a keeper.

10:03 pm (EDT)

What did you think of the series finale of "Spartacus: War of the Damned"?

Liam McIntyre, the Australian-born star of “Spartacus: War of the Damned,” is on with us now live to discuss the finale of the show, which airs on Starz tonight.

“Spartacus” tells the story of the real-life gladiator who led a revolution against ancient Rome. His rebellion has influenced freedom fighters throughout the ages, and inspired books, movies, plays, and other works.

The final battle for freedom is upon us! The “Spartacus: War of the Damned” finale airs tonight at 9 p.m. ET on Starz. Speakeasy will hold a live chat with series star Liam McIntyre at 3 p.m. ET about the show, which tells the story of Spartacus, a real-life rebel who led a slave revolution against ancient Rome. Do you have any questions for the star? Leave your thoughts in the comments, or send us questions on Twitter.

Starz’s “Spartacus” series has reached its moving end. Although it took liberties with the historical facts, the finale was loyal to Spartacus’s legend and its great theme – freedom. Spartacus meets his fate but he lives on as one of history’s most famous slaves and one of its greatest freedom fighters.

Or so the myth says. The Romans remembered Spartacus differently, as a kind of terrorist. Objectively, the historical Spartacus fought for freedom – his own. He probably did not object to slavery as an institution. Very, very few people did in the ancient world. Instead, he probably complained only about his own unjust enslavement and that of his followers. He didn’t try to free all slaves in Italy but only those who could fight for him. But his magnificent and doomed struggle against Roman oppression has made him a symbol of a higher cause. Read More »

We start with flames. Spartacus and his warriors come upon some Romans around a campfire whom they strip of weapons, armor and supplies. But they’re not Crassus’s men. They carry the mark of the eagle and the dolphin. Afterward, Laeta helpfully IDs them as Pompey’s troops.

A rider approaches Spartacus’s camp. It’s Naevia, who has been forced to carry Crixus’s severed head. “I am but pale shade,” she says. She tells the tale of his last stand, and how Tiberius stabbed him from behind as he was fighting with Caesar. She was left alive by Crassus to strike fear into Spartacus and his men with the tale of Crixus’s death.

But Spartacus is looking ahead. He wants to figure out a way to avoid being caught between two armies–one led by Pompey and the other by Crassus.

As the Starz drama “Spartacus: War of the Damned” hurtles towards its conclusion, Speakeasy asked historian Barry Strauss to reflect on some of the important but little-known aspects of the true story of Spartacus. The penultimate episode of “Spartacus,” titled “The Dead and the Dying,” airs tonight.

That a gladiator like Spartacus should have a wife to help his rebellion catch fire seems like a Hollywood touch but, in fact, it’s true. She was a Thracian like him, from the same tribe. Neither her name nor the name of their tribe survives. Only one ancient source mentions her existence, but he is Plutarch, who relied on the (now largely missing) contemporary account by Sallust.

We begin with blood. We see dead Roman bodies stored by the rebels. Spartacus ordered them salted and saved. “They may yet serve purpose,” he says, as easily as a grandmother asks children to refrigerate leftovers.

Spartacus tells Agron that he’s going to go outside the city walls on a mission. Agron suggests that it might be unwise for him to exit with so much festering and unsettled in his relationship with Crixus. “I’m done with words,” Spartacus declares.

Spartacus pays the Silesian pirates to rent their ship; the ship is all he gets as the pirates reveal that they won’t sail with him. We’re beginning to see that pirates are not to be trusted. Read More »

Tonight’s episode was a bloody lesson in the etymology of the word decimation.

Crixus is urging Spartacus into action, while Spartacus instead looks to find food and supplies for his hungry troops. Their split, perhaps the fatal flaw of this revolution, is widening.

Escaped slaves come crowding into the city, and are commanded by the rebels in possession of the place to check their weapons at the gate and prove their status by mark or brand. One comely slave exposes her chest as proof of her status. Gannicus declares the display “the most fearsome weapons yet exposed.” Saxa moves in for closer inspection and a grope. In case your forgot, you’re watching Starz. Read More »

We open with a bloody fight, as Naevia spars with a man in camp who is soon summoned to see Spartacus himself.

Spartacus is holding a meeting with his top men, and Naevia’s sparring partner gives Spartacus valuable inside information about taking a city he wants to infiltrate. Gannicus adds that he knows a blacksmith in the target city who can be bribed into helping them.

Spartacus, Gannicus and Crixus, dressed as traders, enter the city, which requires visitors to check their weapons at the gate. Read More »

The first episode of the final season of “Spartacus” has only just finished and already it feels like we’ve been through a war.

The show lost its original Spartacus (the charismatic Andy Whitfield, who passed away of Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma), enlisted another (Liam McIntyre), and, all told, muscled its way through two seasons and a mini-series. Now, finally, the really epic part of this epic begins.

The first episode, titled “Enemies of Rome,” baptizes us in blood in the opening scenes. Spartacus and his men have broken through the lines of the Roman troops, who have once again foolishly underestimated them. And then we see Spartacus himself, mounted on a horse and armed with a sword, coming for the commanders, who are now realizing, far too late, the peril they are in.

Some of our old comrades from past seasons are there–Crixus, Gannicus, Naevia (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) and the gang. But the backdrop this time is a whole theater of war, not just an arena. The stakes have been raised, and the bloody conclusion is in sight. “Underestimating your opponent is a Roman trait,” Spartacus says later. Read More »

Two weeks ago, actress and singer Patti LuPone grabbed a cell phone out of the hand of an audience member who was texting during a performance of her current play, "Shows for Days." The bold move led to an outpouring of support from fans fed up with glowing screens. Ms. LuPone gives us her five rules of theater etiquette.